Story+1985-03-23+Sydney,+Australia

´´How you doing? It´s Saturday night in Sydney (crowd cheers)... (....) They got him for, uh....resisting arrest....driving while intoxicated....and impersonating a human being....´´
 * 23.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´´Darlington County´´**

´´We´re gonna be playing a long time, you guys can sit down if you want, it´s gonna be a long show....here´s a song, uh, about faith, I guess, like, back in the States on Sunday night they get all the preachers talking about the Bible and kind of buying and selling....they got that here? they must (chuckles) but, uh, this is a song about, uh, blind faith and its consequences and, uh....how people, they wanna believe in something so bad sometimes they believe in anything that comes along....´´
 * 23.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´´Reason to Believe´´**

´´I remember when....I was growing up, my dad would come home every day, he´d come into kitchen, he´d sit down at the kitchen table and start drinking and....he shut out all the lights at night, I remember in the nighttime the only lights that was on was, uh, my mother´d be in the frontroom watching TV, just the TV-light on, and she´d have like in her hair those pink curlers like the women used to wear...Patti, she wears ´em every once in a while but she don´t let nobody see her when she does (chuckles)....and she´d be sitting there in her bathrobe watching television and my dad´d be in the kitchen smoking a cigarette....and we´d go out, he used to lock up the frontdoor at night so, so that we used to have to come in ´round the kitchen so he´d see what time, what time we´d come in....and sometimes when it got too late, you were better off waiting till the morning, he´d been sitting there too long (chuckles) and uh....he was not a happy, a happy man (chuckles) so, uh....I used to have a sleeping bag stashed out in these woods, under these rocks....and sometimes if it got too late, I´d go out there and just unroll it and sleep in my friend´s car, sleep out there under the trees if it wasn´t raining, if it was the summertime....and, uh, now sometimes I go back, I always wanna go back around, around that spot ´cause sometimes it felt more like my house, like my home did than my house did, I guess, but, uh, this is a song about those places, they stay with you always, I guess, everybody, everybody needs someplace to go when they can´t go home....´´
 * 23.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´´The River´´**

´´This song, I guess I wrote, wrote it about....oh, three or four years ago and uh (some woman yells ´I love you!´) you don´t even know me (chuckles) I appreciate the thought (chuckles) but uh (chuckles) but this is a song, I guess I wrote about Elvis, I tried to meet Elvis once....we were down in, we were down in Memphis, Tennesee, it was ´round 1976 and we´d never really been to Memphis before, it was real exciting....and it was late at night and, uh, me and my guitar player Steve decided we wanted to go out and get something to eat....and, uh, we called up a taxi cab and a taxi cab came and got us and, uh....and the guy said ´Well, I know a place you can eat right out by Elvis´ house,´ we said ´You know where Elvis lives?´ he says ´Yeah, yeah,´ says ´Right outside of town´ ´So take us out there right now´....so it´s about 3.30 in the morning and we pull up outside of Elvis´ and there´s these two gates with the guitar players on the front and I looked down the driveway and I see a light on in the window, I´m sure Elvis must be up and he must be reading or watching television or something, you know, and uh....so I decided I´m gonna, you know, I´m gonna jump over the wall and, uh, I didn´t think about, at 3.30 in the morning if somebody comes to your door, generally you wanna grab ´em and beat ´em with a stick or something, you know (chuckles) but I jumped over the wall and I start running down, running down the driveway and I´m thinking of what I´m gonna say, ´You´re my inspiration, you´re my hero´ or, you know, and I get to the frontdoor, I´m just about to knock and the guards come out of the woods and they say ´Well, what do you want?´ I say ´Well, is Elvis home?´ you know (chuckles) and uh, they said ´No, no, Elvis, Elvis isn´t home, you know, he´s in Lake Tahoe right now´ and, uh, it was nice, they were kind of talking to me like they expected me or something (chuckles) but uh....uh, I said ´Well, gee, you know, I´m a guitar player too and I´ve made some records and´ and I tried to tell ´em I was on the cover of Time and Newsweek but they wouldn´t believe (chuckles) so (chuckles) so, anyway, the guy was real nice, he took me down and put me back out on the street and, uh, Steve says ´Did you meet him? Did you meet him?´ I said ´No, no, he´s in Lake Tahoe´ (chuckles) ´But I was gonna meet him if he was home´ (chuckles) but uh....I don´t know....later on when my friend called me up and told me that he died, he was so young and it was so hard to understand how somebody who once´d been so strong and so, so alive....he should´ve lived, this is, uh, this is called ´Bye Bye Johnny´....´´
 * 23.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´´Johnny Bye Bye´´**

´´Alright now, this is, this is, uh....this is a song about ancient history....and it´s like about.... how time starts creeping up on you....like when you´re a little kid and it´s your birthday, you go ´Wow, my birthday´s coming tomorrow´ ´31 days, 30 days, 28 days, 10 days, yeah, birthday, happy birthday to me!´....but then you get older, it´s like ´It´s my birthday? No, man, I just had my birthday the other day....my birthday ain´t coming up now, it´s too soon.... that´s your birthday´....now, the Big Man had a birthday not too long ago....to celebrate the occasion, him and his wife had a little Big Man....what´d you turn, Big Man? 40, uh, 40, 18, right, that´s right (chuckles) but the Big Man wears the time so well....some people got it.... anyway....assist me with this one (chuckles) this is a song, it´s about glory days....how all things must pass....it´s alright....´´
 * 23.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´´Glory Days´´**

´´Oh, thanks....this is, uh....oh....I remember when I was in my first band....we were, I guess I was 15 and, uh, we wanted to get our first publicity pictures taken and so we went down to this park where there was this monument in the middle of it and we´d been going there ever since we were, you know, kids, eight, eight, nine years old, and playing all around it, when we get our pictures taken, we got our guitars and we had these, uh, phony, like, snakeskin vests and, uh, we had those frilly shirts like the kind that the Kinks used to wear, Prince wears ´em now, you know (chuckles) it´s like....yeah, frilly shirts like that, vests and, uh, and we stood there, trying to look about as cool as we could, you know, but, uh, it was funny because all the time I spent ´round in that park and that monument, I never knew what it was a monument to, what it was for, and I realised as I got older that I grew up my whole life without knowing anything about where I came from or what had happened in my past, in school, when they tried to teach history, it, they just, they just, I don´t think they knew how (chuckles) exactly because, and later on it seemed so important to me ´cause to understand howcome my grandfather maybe worked in a factory and why his son did and....and why sometimes these things never change and uh.....anyway, before this tour, I went down to Washington and, uh....I went and I saw the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans´ Memorial and uh....it´s, uh, they stand little closer together down there but it´s a long, long walk and a long distance between those two places....back in my hometown....so....we´ve been out the last few days and it´s, you´ve got a beautiful country here so this is (crowd cheers) but we all, I guess, we all in the end bear, bear the shame and the glory of the places that we live so here´s wishing the best to you and your hometown....´´
 * 23.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´´My Hometown´´**

´´This is a story about a man and his automobile.... (....) Even Mad Max in that black Trans Am gonna meet down at the Cadillac Ranch....´´
 * 23.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´´Cadillac Ranch´´**

´´I remember when I was growing up...my own dad told me that I wasn´t ever gonna amount to anything....I´d be standing on the corner watching....watching the traffic go by, thinking about all the things....all the things it seemed we were never gonna have....and thinking that maybe someday....maybe some way....that I´d find some way....some way....´´
 * 23.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´´I´m On Fire´´**

´´Now, this is for any longtime fans out there....this is for you out there....you see....now, once upon a time....in a land a long ways from here.... (....) Well, now there I was....I was still in high school....but I wasn´t doing too good, I was doing bad in my studies....I used to go into class, like, put my head down on the desk and just start daydreaming....look out the window all the time....oh....so the teachers used to always send me down to the guidance counsellor....now, the guidance counsellor, that´s a guy in the States that´s supposed to guide you through your high school career but really what he does is you sit in his office for about a half-hour and then he sends you back to class....well, I went down there one day and the guy looked at me and said ´Mr. Springsteen, what´s your problem?´....I said ´Well, Sir, you see, it´s like, like, I don´t have any interest in anything, like, I´m not learning anything I wanna know, it´s like I don´t have any faith, I don´t have any hope, I don´t have any confidence in myself, I don´t know what I wanna do, I don´t know what I wanna be when I get out of school, like, I don´t, I don´t, what I need is, uh, I need, I need, I need a closer personal relationship with a member of the opposite sex Friday night!....he said ´No, no, that´s, that´s too big a problem for me, you better go home and talk to your folks´....so I went home and I went in the house and my dad was sitting at the kitchen table, I said ´Dad, man, they sent me home from school, I gotta talk to you, I got a real, I really got a problem going here that like I´m not doing good in school, it´s like, you know, I need some faith, I got no hope, I got no confidence in myself, I don´t know, I don´t know what I wanna do with myself, I´m not interested in anything and´ and he just kind of sat there....and he said ´Get me another beer out of the icebox´....so that was it.... I decided I was gonna do myself in.....so I got out on the highway, I decided I was gonna go down to the beach and drown myself....I started hitchhiking down towards Asbury Park....and I got down to Asbury and I just had this, I had this phony identification so I decided before I drowned myself, I was gonna see if it worked, see if I could get myself a drink first....so I went into this little bar....and first I went into the men´s room and there on the men´s room wall, it said ´Advice and answers to all problems, big or small, just call this number´....so I got a dime and I went outside, put it in the phonebooth, called the number, it rang once....it rang twice....and I heard (Clarence: ´Hello´)...and it was this guy called Clarence ´He-who-knows-all´ Clemons on the line....so like I told him what my problem was and he said not to worry about it but to come over to his house right away, he´d fix everything up....so I hitchhiked over there, knocked on the door....the door opened up....we kind of checked each other out for a minute....Clarence, well, he said he´d been having some troubles of his own but he´d been to see this gypsy and this gypsy had sold him a map to the secret of the world and he said that if we followed this map at midnight when the moon was full, the answer to all troubles would be (?)....so that night we packed up the car with a lot of peanutbutter-and-jelly sandwiches....and we started driving south down Route 9, deep into the dark heart of New Jersey....deep into the pines....past Toms River, past Lakewood, past Freehold, on south we drove and it started raining and then it started hailing and then a hurricane came blowing on on us and then the snow started falling and a blizzard hit us and a tornado came whizzing across the highway and then a heatwave struck and then the roof blew off the car, we had two flat tires, the windows blew out, the engine block cracked, the carburetor cracked in half and then and then the radio broke!....and there we were....parked by the side of this little dirt road....and according to Clarence´s map what we were looking for was just on the other side of those woods.....so into the forest we went....it was spooky in there....we came across this big shade tree.....we could tell it was a shade tree because it had its shades on....and further on we went and we heard sounds like werewolves howling (crowd howls) and we heard lions roaring (crowd roars) and we heard mad dogs barking (crowd barks) then we heard them little koala bears making whatever noise they make (crowd cheers) now, Big Man....there ain´t no, like, there ain´t no beasts, it´s like, there ain´t no man-eating beasts or anything, is there? You sure? I never heard of nobody getting ate alive in New Jersey or nothing....you sure there ain´t no like man-eaters in here, no?....I hear something behind us.... Big Man, I´m, I hear something behind us, there´s something behind us, there is, there is.... whooah! and all of a sudden there behind us was this big man-eating bear but, but instead of jumping on us and making us his dinner, he was acting kind of friendly....he was kissing us and stuff....he said, he said that he wasn´t mean, that he was just lost and lonely out here in the woods....he said his name was Humphrey (crowd cheers really loud) anyway, he said that if we´d be his friends, he´d help us solve our problems and take us to just what we was looking for....so we made a deal with him and back into the forest we went.....and all of a sudden there in the clearing, the clouds pulled away from the moon and we saw the answer to our quest.....and all of a sudden we stood there and we knew everything was gonna be all right....because....when we touched....´´
 * 23.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´´Growin´ Up´´**

´´I remember it was around the end of summer....there was, uh, I just bought myself this, it was a ´69 Camaro I bought for 500 dollars....and, uh, it ran good and I remember at night I used to like put on some sweatshirts, put on my heavy leather jacket, get the top down, go out, it was really cool....it was the kind of days when it´d be real hot in the daytime but then at night it would cool off and everybody used to meet down, there was this little strip off the river where it used to be, I guess people in town used it kind of as a junkyard, they´d take all the stuff they didn´t want down, down there, set it out and let it rust....but there was this little clearing where we used to meet on the weekends and that was the first place I ever met her and we started going out, you know how it is when you first meet somebody, like everything is, everything is fine, you know, you never argue, just have a good time all the time, you know....but time passes and, uh, I don´t know what it is that pulls people apart, what makes them change but I knew she got to where she didn´t wanna, didn´t talk too much any more, didn´t wanna go out at night any more....and she started hiding my keys so I couldn´t take the car out at night....and it got kind of hard to understand because I know that once she knew... we were good friends....and she knew that when I took the car out and when I won....that I got a feeling, I started...it was the only time I got to really feel good about myself....and that to have just one thing, one thing in your whole life that you can do, that makes you feel proud of yourself, well, I don´t think that´s too much for anybody to ask.... (....) Well, that was the night....that was the night that we packed up our bags and we left.... we still don´t know where we´re going yet but I guess that´ll come in time....but sometimes it just feels like time, it gets running so short on you, like it´s gonna run out on you.....but you just gotta keep going....and keep searching....and keep going....and keep on going....and keep on going....and keep on going....and keep on going....and keep on going....´´
 * 23.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´´Racing In The Street´´**

´´Thanks....thank you....I´d just like to do, uh....take a second and, uh, thank, thank everybody for coming down to the show here tonight, thank you very much....and I know a lot of you guys had to wait a long time in line for tickets and I want you to know we appreciate it (chuckles)....and, uh, thanks for making us feel so, so at home down here....I´ll do this for you....´´
 * 23.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´´Can´t Help Falling In Love With You´´**

´´Ladies and gentlemen....and children of all ages....tonight we have with us on the piano, the most intelligent man in rock and roll, Professor Roy Bittan....on vocals, an alumni of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Miss Patti Scialfa....on the bass guitar, the man bringing the thunder Down Under, Mr. Garry W.Tallent....on the drums, the Mighty Max Weinberg....on the organ, the inimitable, the inevitable, the unbelievable, the incorrigable Phantom Dan Federici....on the guitar, a man as sweet as life itself, Mr.Nils Lofgren....and last but not least....he´s known as the king of the world....the master of the universe....the emperor of all things....do I have to say his name?....do I have to say his name?....gimme a C-L-A-R-E-N-C-E, what´s that spell? (crowd: ´Clarence´) what´s that spell? (crowd: ´Clarence´) what´s that spell? (crowd: ´Clarence´) Clarence Big Man Clemons on the saxophone....´´
 * 23.03.85 Sydney, Australia, middle of ´´Rosalita´´**

´´I was home watching TV already and here I am....´´
 * 23.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´´Twist And Shout´´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//